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Analysis: Fair elections at stake because of parties verification manipulation
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Workers from the Depok General Elections Commission (KPU) stack ballot boxes on November 25, 2020 at a warehouse in Cimanggis district, Depok, West Java. (JP/P.J.Leo)
Recent allegations of data manipulation during the factual verification of political parties aspiring to contest the 2024 legislative elections have clouded hopes of a free and fair practice of democracy. A number of civil society organizations found that cheating took place in several regions, including South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), East Java, Bali, Central Kalimantan and Aceh.
The factual verification stage conducted by the General Elections Commission (KPU) determines whether or not political parties that are currently not represented in the legislature are eligible to run in the elections. To be able to nominate candidates for the 2024 election, these parties must meet the requirements set by the commission.
Political parties that initially failed but eventually passed the verification include newcomers the Gelora Party, the Nusantara Awakening Party (PKN) and the Garuda Party. Altogether 17 parties qualify for the Feb. 14, 2024 elections, most are old faces that competed in 2019. The Gelora Party, the PKN and the Labor Party will make their debut in 2024.
The allegations arose after a group of civil society organizations disclosed irregularities in the results of the factual verification in South Sulawesi. South Sulawesi Non-Government Information and Communication Form (FIK-Ornop) coordinator Samsang Syamsir said discrepancies were found between the data collected by the regency/city KPU offices and that of the KPU provincial office. The lack of transparency in the local KPU offices’ Political Party Information System (SIPOL) database had also been taken advantage of.
Lawyers representing a group of regional KPU officials have also claimed their clients were intimidated by officials from the KPU central office to alter the results of the factual verifications.
The Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has yet to find evidence of the KPU’s alleged violations. However, Bawaslu confirmed three violations of the factual verifications in Mamuju, West Sulawesi; Kotabaru, South Kalimantan; and Pidie, Aceh. For one, the Gelora Party was found to have falsified the number of members in Mamuju, which initially did not meet the electoral requirements. The Mamuju KPU office was then rebuked.
In a written response to the allegations, KPU chairman Hasyim Asy’ari said the KPU had been fully transparent and accountable at every stage of the hierarchical submission of the factual verification results, from the regency/city KPU offices to the SIPOL database. He added that the results had also been distributed to political parties and Bawaslu.
